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Ranger Corps
|caption = "Immortal in magic." |name = Ranger Corps |kanji = レンジャー隊 |romaji = Renjā-tai |status = Active |founder(s) = Sanjo Vista Richard Aria |headquarters = Nova Era |member(s) = Varied |affiliation = Magic Council |purpose = Preserve the balance of the magic world. }} The Ranger Corps (レンジャー隊, Renjā-tai) is a reputed organization within the Magic Council tasked with being "problem solvers in the magic world." A job that crosses all paths, rangers are guardians, explorers, peace keepers, escorts, warriors, and most importantly, individuals that approach a complex world in complex ways. They are tasked with protecting magical artifacts, dangerous and benign, and neutralizing the threat of the Black Arts—a relic of yesteryear. The organization's founders created this role to deal with cults surrounding Zeref, dark magics, and the disturbance of artifacts like Nirvana and Lullaby. As an entity, the Ranger Corps are the council's safeguard against the disturbance of balance in the magic world. A most illustrious order that has left legends in its wake, a ranger's work can take them anywhere where the council's influence touches, and this unit is the most prized component of the council's forces in the present day. These men and women are by nature the elite, and are able operate both independently and collaboratively with fine precision in an arrangement many refer to as a "militarized guild." Rangers represent a group of people with diverse skills honed to the highest level—amongst their ranks are academy prodigies, former members of the Rune Knight elite, etc. Some are heroes, others something greater, some are scholars, others explorers with a romance for adventure, with this job comes specialized access to classified information, experimental technology, travel privileges, and a handsome salary. Few ever meet a ranger, much less become one, but they enjoy a special sort of celebrity when they finally break into the world with a reputation of their own. They are the deterrent to those that wish to disturb the natural order and are the central organization of Fairy Tail: ARISE. As of X1000, Kane Vista and the rangers of his generation were the first rookies to make it past the corps' qualification trials in more than half a decade. History Duties and Responsibilities Organization Rank In terms of the general hierarchy, the Ranger Corps is segmented into three ranks: alpha, beta, and theta, with alpha-rank being the highest attainable rank outside of the Ranger Council itself. These ranks denote skill and experience of the individual, but more importantly, the trust placed upon the ranger by the council. Outside of basic skill recognition and increased authority, this tri-level ranking system serves to ease the distribution of missions. If visualized as an equilateral pyramid, theta-rank rangers, entry-level and rookie individuals, form the base of the organization as the most populous of all positions, with a considerable shrinking in size comes the beta-rank rangers, seasoned and proven individuals that have achieved fame, and finally with another drastic shrink in number comes the alpha-rank rangers, legendary individuals that have contributed something to the organization as a whole, a rank that most rangers, even some of the most talented, never achieve. Numbering in the hundreds, the rangers are a truly elite entity with a clear structure of rank that encompasses not just strength, but experience, contributions, humanitarianism, and tact. Theta-Rank: Upon completing the trials successfully and permitted entrance into the ranks of the corp, all rangers start off as theta-rank members and many end up staying at that rank throughout the duration of their career. It should be noted that at even this rank, there are extremely dangerous and skilled mages capable of accomplishing considerable feats in their mission to preserve the magic world's balance. These rangers tend to have the largest presence on the HQ's grounds due to both their numbers and the nature of their missions. Theta-rank rangers are, by and large, limited to only theta-rank missions, which can be very diverse and dangerous, though exceptions can be made. As noted, rank defines what missions can be taken by an ranger, however, the presence of a high ranked ranger create a loophole for these individuals to take on higher level missions, this becomes even more dynamic if there are multiple higher ranked rangers present. At the current moment, Kane Vista, Eden Aria, and the rest of their talented generation hold this very rank and are the first ones to achieve admission into the corps straight out of the academy. This class of rangers tends to be mostly younger and less experienced individuals under the age of thirty, though there are a significant chunk of group that are older. Theta-Rank rangers are dubbed with many of the basic privileges of the Ranger Corps with generous pay, special archive access, specialized travel clearance, and limited use of experimental technology from the council's science division. Beta-Rank: With experience comes wisdom and with fame comes perspective, it is this axiom that defines beta-rank rangers that have proven themselves on the battlefield and off it. With ascendance into this position, members are dubbed with a new set of privileges and responsibilities along with a greater selection of missions that can be tackled. One can reach this position either by requesting qualification after gaining the recommendations of at least two beta-rank rangers or one alpha-rank ranger, or by being nominated by a higher ranked peer. After this, the ranger is put through a number of trials of mind and body under the judgement of the ranger council. With the promotion comes greater access to archive records, council technology, independent mission use of the council's MTM network, and automatic command over lower ranked rangers on missions. In recollection of his experiences during the trials, Jaime Cosway, occasional mentor of Eden and Kane, called the event "rigorous even for me back then." It is incorrect to think of this rank as the equivalent of S-Class mages for mage guilds as there are a number of individuals with abilities on-par with S-Class mages of the most elite guilds at the bottom of the corps' hierarchy. Due to the habits of their superiors, these rangers tend to be the reigning senior members encountered by lower-ranked rangers and other council employees on a day-to-day basis. It is here that they are capable of assuming large-scale responsibilities such as helming a humanitarian effort, leading an investigation by the corps into high-profile incidents, spearheading manhunts of highly dangerous criminals, and being captain of a team protecting high-risk items such as dangerous, magical artifacts. Alpha-Rank: The requirements to achieve alpha classification are vague and mostly a mystery to those outside of the upper echelon of the council. This is by design, to retain the prestige of the position and avoid pointless competition from unqualified individuals. The general idea is that if you're qualified, then you will be the first to know what needs to be done to secure the promotion. Alpha-rank rangers are generally seen as individuals that have contributed something to the organization, the council, or the wider magic world in the execution of their duties. These individuals are allowed free movement and are rarely present at the council's HQ, preferring to be in the field. The only regular presence of rangers of this rank at Nova Era is the Ranger Council itself. These men, women, or something in-between are amongst the legendary persons of the magic world that have the authority to control multiple platoons of rangers of the lower ranks and override their wishes if the situation requires it. There is one unpopular fact about this rank that stands to this day, that the rank has never been achieved by someone under the age of thirty. Despite claims of ambitions to break this pattern by many a ranger, nothing has changed. Chain of Command Ranger Council Recruitment and Training The Trials Benefits Membership Trivia *The Ranger Corps is inspired by a number of entities, both real and fictional: the US Marshall, Jedi Order, Texas Rangers, US Army Rangers, Marvel's SHIELD, and the Order of the White Lotus. Category:Organization Category:Magic Council Category:Ranger Corps Category:Fairy Tail: ARISE Category:Zicoihno Category:Under Construction